China's huge food export market could be making the world sick, write Ariana Eunjung Cha in Shanghai and Kelly Burke.

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In recent weeks, however, consumers everywhere have been learning about China's safety crisis. Tainted ingredients that originated there made their way into pet food that has sickened and killed animals around the world, with nearly 4000 deaths reported in the US. Although no animal deaths have been reported in Australia, high-end pet food products imported from the US have also been pulled from Australian shelves.

With China playing an ever-larger role in supplying food, medicine and animal feed to other countries, recognition of the hazards has not kept up.

By value, China is the world's No.1 exporter of fruits and vegetables, and a major exporter of other food products ranging from apple juice to garlic and sausage casings. Its agricultural exports to the US surged to $US2.26 billion last year - nearly 20 times the $US133 million of 1980. China's food exports to Australia were worth $450 million in 2006, up from $345 million the previous year, and dominated by prawns, cereal, fruit juice and vegetables.

China has been especially poor at meeting international standards. The US subjects only a small fraction of its food imports to close inspection, but each month rejects about 200 shipments from China, mostly due to concerns about pesticides, antibiotics and misleading labelling. In February, border inspectors for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) blocked peas tainted by pesticides, dried plums containing banned additives, pepper contaminated with salmonella and frozen crayfish that were filthy.

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service samples 5 per cent of food imports and a spokesman said although the overall number of rejections were small, "the major cause of rejections of imports from China are heavy metals and pesticides".

Since 2000, some countries have temporarily banned whole categories of Chinese imports. The European Union stopped prawn shipments because of banned antibiotics. Japan blocked tea and spinach, citing excessive antibiotic residue. And South Korea banned fermented cabbage after finding parasites.

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But reflecting anxiety over food safety issues and increasing international pressure, President Hu Jintao on Wednesday urged the farming sector to improve food safety and develop the organic sector, state media reported. Hu promised stricter rules on growing and processing, the People's Daily reported. "Without agricultural standardisation, there can be no agricultural modernisation and no assurance of food safety," he said.